


By Creed, It Is In Your Care

by AnnaFay



Series: I would like to see the baby [1]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-27
Updated: 2019-12-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:00:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21990148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnnaFay/pseuds/AnnaFay
Summary: ‘By Creed, it is in your care.’The Armorer has always had a taste for unquestionable statements, and of course, she was right again. As always. For better or for worse, the little one was indeed in his care for the time being.(Set after Chapter 8. No major spoilers.)
Series: I would like to see the baby [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1586224
Comments: 4
Kudos: 191





	By Creed, It Is In Your Care

_ ‘By Creed, it is in your care.’ _

The Armorer has always had a taste for unquestionable statements, and of course, she was right again. As always. For better or for worse, the little one was indeed in his care for the time being.

“All right,” Din said with a sigh, switching the Razor Crest to autopilot mode. “It’s time to get some rest.” 

They had been on the move for more than twelve hours and had taken five randomly asserted jumps through hyperspace. Things looked as safe and peaceful as one could wish for after a skirmish with the Empire, and frankly, he was on the edge of dropping out of his seat.

“Come on.” He carefully lifted the little one on his way towards the ladder.

It held on to his pauldron with a soft coo and let itself be carried below deck to be put in the bunk; the only part of the ship that could be properly sealed off without it being able to open it. Or at least yet, because it was getting stronger. First the mudhorn, now the flames...

“What?”

The little one made no sound, just looked around with eyes that somehow looked even bigger and brighter than usual, before raising them to meet his, acting like it had no idea what was going on.

“You’ve had your sleep, but I need mine too,” he said. “And I bet you could use some more yourself, after your… sorcery,” he added, because even though it had been napping on and off since they had left Nevarro, it wasn’t back to its old, energetic self yet. Not that Din minden that one bit.

It didn’t complain, but didn’t do as it was told either, just kept on blinking back at him, thinking it would be enough to bend him to its will.

Apparently, it was.

Feeling way too tired for such arguments, he gave in with a groan, and stepped away from the bunk for a moment. “Food, water, toys,” he listed the items he returned with as he placed them within its reach. Except of course the toys weren’t toys, but spare parts and tools with no sharp edges. Not that it seemed to have noticed or cared about the difference so far.

The little one broke eye contact for a moment to check the things meant to entertain it for at least a few hours, then looked back at Din expectantly, suggesting they were less than satisfactory.

“Fine.” He ushered it to the side, then put one knee on the bunk so that he could climb in and reach the monitor at the back, over the area where he should have laid his head to get some proper, well-deserved sleep. “There you go.” He switched it on.

It was nothing fancy, just the vitals of the Razor Crest, but it seemed to finally do the trick, because the little one plomped down to admire the colored lights with a content grunt almost instantly.

“Good night, then.” Din crawled back out of the bunk as quickly as he could in such confined space and with at least two cracked ribs, and pressed the button sealing it shut before the youngling had time to change its mind and demand anything else of him.

Just to make sure that was truly it, he put his back against the wall by the door carefully, and listened. Listened to the sounds the ship was omitting, which in his experience were the best lullaby one could ask for; the noises the little one thankfully didn’t make; and the ringing in his right ear, that he hoped would go away soon.

The other thing he had been eager to get rid of for some time was the stench of blood mixed with bacta, and fortunately that wasn’t too far out of his reach. He slid off his helmet with a deep sigh, then stayed with his back against the wall for some time.

It did the trick, he started to feel better within moments. His nausea was almost instantly gone, and his headache started ebbing away too.

Good.

He put his head back against the wall and kept on listening to the ship purring, to the little one still not making any sound that would escape the bunk, and to… yes, to his right ear too. It looked like he still had to be patient about that.

Looking into the helmet, he wondered if he should go and try to clean it while the gore inside was still more or less fresh, but he quickly decided against it. He put it on the ground and gingerly started removing the rest of his armor piece by piece to pile everything in the corner.

He skipped wasting time on taking off any items of clothing and rolled out his sleeping mat, feeling like it was generating its own gravitational field and pulling him in already.

Almost there...

But his blanket was nowhere to be found.

He looked around for it, then pinched the bridge of his nose with a defeated groan as he realised he had left it inside the bunk.

Since there was no way he would open it and release the little one, he decided he needed no blanket. He freed whatever was left of his cape from the pile instead. It wasn’t much, but it would cover his shoulder, and he needed nothing more.

He lowered himself down on the mat, stretched his legs, put his left arm under his head and closed his eyes with a content sigh. He had lived to fight another day, protected the child and… had lost friends.

_ Don’t go there, _ he told himself. 

Knowing that he had plenty of time to think about that, but precious little to get some sleep, he refused to open his eyes and think about them, and decidedly went back to listening to and for the sound of the ship, the little one and his ear instead. Damn the droid, it could have done something about the ear too, while he was at it...


End file.
